The Sawdust Chronicles

I gave away my first version of this dinosaur puzzle as a gift unpainted. I still wanted to make one for my soon-to-be grandson, so I cut another one out Thursday.  I just finished the beveling and sanding.  Next up when I return from our holiday trip next Friday, is to prime it with white (2x + sanding) and then paint it with neon/glow-in-the-dark colors. I am not too keen on poplar, as I do not like the green in its natural state.  But with my Flying Dutchman ultra reverse #5's, it cut well. No need to sand the cut edges at all. Pattern from 20-minute puzzle book.

For those newbies (like me) that have the low-end models like the WEN 16-inch saw, with the large, removable plastic insert where the bade goes through. I find that my pieces get caught on the edges of the insert and the scroll deck while cutting, thus causing some issues with my cuts.  Here is a quick solution to that.  I got a vinyl magnet sheet from amazon, this was the NON-adhesive version.  I traced the outline of my deck onto the vinyl (upside down), then cut it to shape.  I used double sticky tape (since my deck is aluminum) in a few places to hold it in place and also cut a hole for the blade to be fed through.  Now my pieces slide real nice as I cut, not catching the edge of the plastic disk, and small pieces do not fall through the large opening.  It's a little different feeding the blade (I used pin less) when changing blades, but I am growing accustomed to that. Here is an after and before photo.  I have since removed the blue sharpie lines...

It's been many years since I have done any type of woodworking. Sure, sure, I have done a bit of carpentry hither and yon over the years as a homeowner. I have restored/rebuilt a couple of houses.  But what I am talking about, is woodworking where I am creating something. 40+ years ago, I remember making a rocking cradle for the High School secretary, she was about to become a grandmother.  I made a wooden circus train, complete with animals that eventually I gave as a gift.  I made a number of gifts and items. I still have one that I did for my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary and got it back after my grandmother passed away. But what I want to create, will be toys and clocks.  I also want to go more artistic and create artwork using Intarsia and Segmentation techniques.  But that will be a bit later. I started out buying an inexpensive WEN scroll saw, that will meet my needs for a few months.  If I find I like what I am doing, then I can upgrade to ...